The installation of coaxial cable connectors onto an end of a prepared coaxial cable typically involves the use of specialized tools. Typically, a stripping tool is required to remove cable sheathing to expose a signal-carrying inner conductor and a grounding outer conductor of the cable. The stripping tool removes cable sheathing stepwise along the length of the cable to expose a predetermined length of the signal-carrying inner conductor and, a predetermined length of the grounding outer conductor. More specifically, as illustrate in FIG. 5, at a first length measured from the end of the cable, a first step or cut in the cable removes: (i) innermost dielectric core, (ii) a foil layer, (iii) the grounding conductor, and (iv) a first length of the outermost compliant jacket. At a second length measured from the first step, a second step or cut is produced to remove a second length of the outermost compliant jacket. Accordingly, the first step exposes the signal-carrying inner conductor of the cable and the second step exposes the grounding outer conductor of the cable. The first and second steps are cut by a pair of spaced-apart blades rigidly affixed to a handle or lever arm of the stripping tool.
A conventional stripping tool typically employs a pair of stacked, razor-sharp, cutting devices or blades. The blades are molded in combination with a plastic lever arm that is spring-biased to cut a prescribed distance into the end of the coaxial cable. More specifically, the lever arm is squeezed tight against a stop surface and rotated about the axis of the cable, for example, about three times. Inasmuch as the lever arm imposes a prescribed force, determined by the stiffness/spring-constant of the spring, the cutting blades slice deeper into the cable sheathing (i.e., the outer jacket, the outer conductor, the foil layer and/or the dielectric core) with each turn/revolution. The lever arm is then used to pull the stripped/cut material from the end of the coaxial cable. Inasmuch as the sheathing material is high strength and can be rather course, the cutting blades will dull after about one hundred cycles. Since the blades are molded in combination with the lever arm and the cost of the tool is sufficiently low, the stripping tool is discarded and replaced when the blades become dull.
Accordingly, it may be desirable to provide a cable stripping tool that includes a blade cartridge that is removable when it becomes dull. The removable blade cartridge is discarded and replaced by a new blade cartridge so that a preparer can continue using the cable stripping tool. The cost of the removable blade cartridge is only a fraction of the cost of the cable stripping tool, and thus a cable stripping tool using the removable blade cartridge will lead to cost savings over the life of the cable stripping tool.
Additionally, a compression tool is often required to secure a connector to the prepared end of a coaxial cable. The compression tool causes elements of the connector to frictionally engage and mechanically interlock with the outer conductor and jacket of the coaxial cable. One type of compression tool causes a conductive internal post of the connector to capture the outer conductor/jacket between tightly controlled radial dimensions of the post and a rigid annular body of the connector. In another type of compression tool, the end of the connector body includes a deformable bellows which when compressed in an axial direction deforms radially into the compliant outer jacket of the coaxial cable. Notwithstanding, the type of compression tool employed, the conductive post either produces or reacts the radial forces necessary to compress and capture the outer conductor/jacket between the post and the connector body.
Consequently, two different tools are required to prepare and secure coaxial cable to a cable connector. The cost of preparing and securing a coaxial cable to a cable connector, therefore, includes the cost of both a stripping tool and a compression tool. Further, relying on two different tools can add complexity to the installation process, cause installation inefficiencies, create burdens for carrying inventory of multiple tools and increase the costs associated with servicing customers, which can cause price increases.
Furthermore, it will be appreciated that the cost is also a function of the frequency of tool replacement, exacerbated by a stripping tool that is replaced after as few as one hundred operational cycles. In cost sensitive markets, the cost of these tools can be sufficiently additive so as to prohibit customers from purchasing connectors requiring such tools. As a result, lower quality connectors are typically employed in such cost-sensitive markets.
Accordingly, there is a need to overcome, or otherwise lessen the effects of, the disadvantages and shortcomings described above.